Laxmi Khurana is an Indian housewife living in the UK. Her recipes, handed down to her through the generations, are admired by her family and friends, who have persistently urged her to have them published as a book.

This, therefore, is a collection of over 100 traditional Indian recipes. Many are family dishes that would not be served in restaurants.Not only are curries featured - meat, vegetable and dhal - but there are an array of starters, raitas, chutneys, pickles and sweets. Everything, in fact, that characterises Indian cookery for people all over the world.

Mrs Khurana demolishes the myth that Indian cookery is cumbersome and time-consuming: it can be fun and simple. She presents recipes, using straightforward step by step methods, made from widely available ingredients and spices.